On Monday, April 15, President Obama signed
legislation rolling back the disclosure requirements of the STOCK (Stop
Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act, which would have required
creation of a searchable, sortable database for the annual financial
interest forms of 28,000 executive branch employees as well as highly
paid Congressional staff. These forms contain detailed information
about employees’ assets, outside income and gifts. Former national security officials raised security concerns about this publication requirement.
Current employees filed a lawsuit, resulting in a federal court ruling
that publishing such information on the web would violate employees’
right to privacy. “Both the court and the National Academy of Public
Administration
recognized that federal employees have a legitimate right to privacy
regarding their personal financial information,” says Kathleen Clark,
JD, government ethics expert and professor of law at Washington
University in St. Louis.
Richard K. Wilson, PhD, and colleagues have identified mutations responsible for the most common type of childhood brain cancer and shown that the tumors are susceptible to drugs already in development.
Alumni celebrating their 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th or 45th reunion will be returning to campus April 19-21 for a weekend of activities that coincides with the university’s Thurtene Carnival. More than 2,000 alumni and guests are expected to attend.
St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday and his mom, Kathy, have teamed up with the Siteman Cancer Center to spread the word about the importance of colon cancer screening.
Timothy J. Moore, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Classics in Arts & Sciences, was installed as the inaugural John and Penelope Biggs Distinguished Professor of Classics. The professorship was established in 2002 with generous gifts from distinguished WUSTL alumni John and Penelope Biggs.
Alumna Anna DiPalma Amelung, PhD, a facilitator in WUSTL’s Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI), was inducted as a Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Knight in the Order of Academic Palms) for outstanding contributions to the development of French culture and language. Amelung received a medallion on behalf of the French government during a March 22 ceremony and reception at the West Campus Conference Center. Amelung earned a PhD in French from WUSTL in 1980.
Anyone with aspirations for climbing the corporate ladder knows that the best advice comes from the insiders at the top, and Cynthia Brinkley has occupied the top rungs at some of the largest and most established companies for more than a quarter-century. For the next Assembly Series program, tomorrow at 11 a.m. in Graham Chapel, Brinkley will share her experiences and insights.
On Thursday, April 11, the Senate voted to roll back
the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act, limiting the
web-based publication of government employees’ personal financial
information. This action comes in response to a federal court ruling
that such publication violated employees’ right to privacy and a
critical report by the National Academy of Public Administration. “The court recognized that the federal employees have a
legitimate right to privacy regarding their personal financial
information and ruled that the federal government failed to identify a
compelling government interest that would justify posting that personal
information on the internet,” says Kathleen Clark, JD, government ethics
expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.
Rabbi James S. Diamond, former executive director of Hillel at Washington University in St. Louis, died March 28, 2013, in a traffic accident in Princeton, N.J., where he lived. He was 74.
Filibuster has become a popular tool for legislators.
“Republicans have held the U.S. Senate hostage despite their minority
status and losses in the last election,” says Merton Bernstein, emeritus
professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Indeed, the threat of a filibuster enables the
minority to exact concessions that the electorate had already rejected
in several elections. This sabotage of the democratic process not only
shuts down the legislative process, short circuits the confirmation of presidential
nominees, but also threatens large foreign purchases of U.S. bonds that
lower interest rates for federal, state and business borrowing.”